


Soft Sighing Voices

by SmoakScreen (midwestwind)



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Phone Calls, Post-Season/Series 05, Pre-Season/Series 06, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 11:06:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12364383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midwestwind/pseuds/SmoakScreen
Summary: "I was just about to give you a call."Oliver takes to calling Felicity most nights, not for anything important. He just likes to hear her voice.





	Soft Sighing Voices

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I want to say - this is not my fault. This is all muslimsmoak on twitter's fault -- okay, well, mostly her fault, but I also have like zero self-control. I swear to God I'm gonna get back to work on strangers asap! Thanks to Melanie who beta'd and helped me through the process <33
> 
> Based on the tweet ["ok, a summer’s worth of olicity phone convos is so soft, slowly rebuilding their relationship with long convos about anything and everything"](https://twitter.com/muslimsmoak/status/918667456343937024)

It starts after they get back from the island.

A lot of things start after they get back from the island. Like Samantha’s funeral. Like Thea’s hospitalization. Like plucking William out of the only life he’s known and depositing him into one filled with strangers and trauma.

They make it to a hospital in Star City before anyone even sees a doctor. John is insisting he’s fine, but Felicity glares him down until he agrees to get looked at. Dinah and Lance are shaken, but agree to getting checked out. Rene caves at one desperate look from Oliver and no one needed to convince Curtis to get his head looked at anyway.

The car accident feels like ages ago, but Felicity lets a doctor check her for a concussion anyway. She gets out of the check up before anyone else because, otherwise? She’s fine.

She’s fine because John came back for her, a fact she won’t be able to forget anytime soon. Because Thea chased after Samantha instead. She knew the woman hadn’t intended to get on the plane without her son, but she didn’t think she’d be so foolish as to run off on her own on an unfamiliar island literally filled with bombs.

No, foolish is the wrong word. Brave, maybe. Selfless, maternal. Felicity thinks of her own mother, sudden tears stinging the back of her eyes, remembering the various ways Donna Smoak had put herself between Felicity and the dangers of life, some of which she hadn’t even realized until recently. She aches with a sudden need to call her, but what would she even say?

Oliver is the mayor. This is going to make headlines whether they like it or not. She’ll need to call her mother before that happens at least.

She spots him coming out of a hospital room, no doubt Thea’s since she knows him better than to think he’d let himself get checked out. He’d managed a change of clothes before anyone saw him in his gear, but it’s not one of the suits he’s returned to as mayor. It’s that soft brown jacket she’d always liked.

“Hey,” she calls softly, once she’s close enough. He’s facing the wall, fingers pressed to his temples in a telltale sign of distress. She reaches out, fingers skirting unsurely over the material of his jacket. He doesn’t respond, but instead turns into her suddenly, pressing himself into her embrace.

For a few minutes, she just holds him. Clinging as desperately to him as he is to her.

“What are the doctors saying?” She asks when she feels him begin to pull away. She loosens her hold, giving him the opportunity to put some real space between them. He doesn’t go far, his hands still touching her, just enough to convince himself she’s real. It’s been a traumatic few days for everyone.

“She must have hit her head,” he says, looking off towards the room he’d come out of rather than at her. Felicity can see the way he’s trying to control his emotions. This is Thea, though, and he’s never had much control there. “They’re saying the coma is her body’s way of reacting to the trauma. But, they don’t know when or if she’ll wake up.”

“Oliver, it’s Thea,” she says, wrapping her fingers around his wrists and squeezing gently. “She’ll wake up.”

She doesn’t know if that’s true or not, but she’s seen Thea Queen come back from being half dead, twice. The last thing she’s going to do is underestimate the woman. Oliver nods, though he seems unconvinced, tortured in a way she’d hoped he would finally free himself from.

She opens her mouth to say something, anything. There’s no plan, but she wants him to feel better, wants to ease his mind in any small way she can.

Another voice beats her to it, “Mr. Queen.”

Oliver spins, his hands falling away from her and it startles her how quickly she misses his touch. She leans around him to see a doctor coming from another room a few doors down from Thea’s. Oliver takes a cursory step forward, but the doctor is already coming to meet him.

“William seems fine,” she says easily. “A little dehydrated, but nothing to worry about. You can take him home as soon as he’s ready.”

Oliver thanks the doctor, shaking her hand. Once she’s disappeared around the corner, Felicity watches his arms lift, sliding across the sides of his face.

“Hey,” she says gently, tugging lightly on his arm to make him face her. “That’s good news, Oliver.”

“Where am I supposed to take him, Felicity?” He asks. “Samantha asked me to be there for him, to be a parent. I don’t know how to…”

“You’ll learn,” she insists. “Right now, you just need to make him feel safe. Take him to your apartment, get him cleaned up and some sleep. One step at a time, right?”

He nods, but he doesn’t look any less terrified. She’s so unused to a scared Oliver when it isn’t supervillain related. She figures the fact that he’s feeling that right now probably means he’s going to be fine. No one should be confident at the prospect of becoming a parent, right?

He looks like he’s going to move away and Felicity is already considering the prospect of her own bed and shower. A bath sounds amazing, but mostly she just wants to sleep for like two days. Oliver hesitates, looking back at her and it only takes catching the look in his eyes to know where his mind has gone.

“We should…,” he starts and Felicity nods.

“Talk,” she finishes for him. “Yes, definitely. Later.”

“Later,” he nods and then he’s gone, disappearing into the room where his terrified son is. 

Felicity’s heart aches at the thought, wishing there was more she could do, wishing she’d kept a closer eye on Samantha. It wasn’t her fault, she knows that. Logically, there’s only one person to blame for the fact that Samantha is gone. But, she can’t help herself from feeling a bit of the guilt. Maybe that’s Oliver rubbing off on her.

It’s John that pulls her out of it, coming up next to her and nudging her shoulder gently with his bicep. She looks up at him, examining him for any lingering damage.

“Did you get checked out?” She asks, frowning at him. She feels like the doctors should have kept him longer.

“Yup,” he says shortly, but his stance is tense and he looks like he’s still in some level of pain. She doesn’t believe him. “Lyla’s on her way here. You want a ride home?”

She’s too tired to argue with him.

\---

So, that’s sort of how the calls start. At least, that’s the underlying cause and the calls are the symptom. God, she should not be comparing something as innocuous as phone calls with her ex-fiance-turned-maybe-boyfriend to a disease. Of course, when she puts it that way ‘innocuous’ doesn’t really seem like the right word either.

She wakes up to her phone ringing, which is good because there’s already sunlight coming through the windows next to her bed so she’s slept longer than she should have. She checks the caller ID first, yanking the phone off of it’s charging cord on accident.

“Hi,” she greets, stretching out across the bed. Muscles pull and she can’t stop the hum that falls from her lips at the feeling.

“I woke you,” Oliver says. Felicity can hear the smile in his voice, like he’s teasing her for daring to sleep in. She rolls her eyes at how easily he reads her.

“Is something wrong?” She asks, forcing herself to sit up. She fumbles around a bit, trying to locate her glasses on the table while being blinded by the sun coming in from outside.

“No,” he assures her softly, just as she finally locates her glasses and slides them onto her face. She attempts to run her hand through her hair, remembering that she’d fallen asleep with it wet. She so does not want to face a mirror right now.

“Well, not anything new,” Oliver amends and Felicity remembers herself suddenly. Why her shoulder aches, why she’d fallen asleep without letting her hair dry last night. Why Oliver sounds tired and lost. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Like,  _ talk _ -talk?” She asks, because she can’t help herself. There’s no caffeine in her system and any adrenaline has worn off. All the confidence she had felt when she’d kissed him on Lian Yu has ebbed into nervousness. “Because I wasn’t sure if we should give it some time, you know, to adjust or whatever. And, I mean, with Thea and Samantha, I wasn’t sure if you-”

“Felicity,” he calls her name gently over the phone line and it promptly shuts her right up. He’s always been good at that. “I’m willing to take my lead from you here. I just really wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh,” she breathes, a little surprised at the admission. She shouldn’t be, maybe, but up until a few weeks ago they were barely talking if it didn’t involve vigilante business. Not that she’s complaining at this new development, it just throws her.

More specifically, the familiarity of it has her chest going warm and heavy. She decides to let that feeling take over her, shifting down a little in her bed to make herself more comfortable.

“How are you feeling?” He asks before she can. She adjusts her shoulder experimentally, remembering the way it had throbbed after colliding with the hard ground. There’s a soreness to it, but hardly the worst she’s ever felt.

“I’m alright,” she admits, knowing he’d call her bluff if she played it up. “How are you? How’s William?”

He tells her about William’s adjustment, or rather lack thereof, but it’s only been a day. They don’t talk about them, the implications of being a ‘them’ again anyway, especially now with the addition of William. But, she thinks that’s okay. It’s a conversation she’d rather have in person anyway.

\---

“So, my mom’s coming into town,” she tells him one night. She’s leaning back against the island, staring into her depressingly empty fridge. The cool air from within is blasting across her bare legs and toes. “I guess she thinks I’m lying about being okay.”

“How much did you tell her about what happened?” Oliver asks on his end of the phone call. Felicity frowns, pushing the door to the fridge closed.

“Not much,” she sighs, turning and resting her elbows on the counter instead. “Which is probably why she thinks I’m lying.”

“You could tell her the truth,” he broaches cautiously. She smiles at the attempt, knowing that he knows her mother well enough to know that’s a terrible idea. As if reading her mind, he tacks on, “But then she might never leave.”

Felicity laughs, standing back up and deciding to pull some pasta from the pantry. If she makes enough then at least she’ll have some leftovers until she goes grocery shopping.

“Raisa’s gonna come help out with William,” he tells her as she fills a pot with water. “Raisa was-”

“Your housekeeper when you were a kid, yeah,” she nods to herself. “You told me about her.”

Oliver lets out a quiet “oh” and she figures his thoughts go to the same place hers had. To early mornings in Ivy Town, wrapped around each other, secure in their own little bubble. Her chest constricts at the memory in the same painful way it always does.

But she warms at the thought of getting back on track, the reminder that he calls her nearly every night just to chat, to hear each other’s voices.

“I’m glad you got in touch with her,” she continues after a moment, pulling them both from the path they’d began to venture down. “I know how much you loved her.”

“I just hope she can help William start to acclimate a bit more,” he sighs, his voice taking on a heavy quality she’s come to associate with his son. She knows, in her very being, that Oliver is meant to be an amazing father. But he needs the time to figure out how to be.

“He’s still not talking to you, huh?” She asks, pouting down at the small bubbles beginning to appear in the pot.

“Not if he can help it,” he admits.

“He’s probably still dealing with everything,” Felicity assures him. “It’s gonna take some time and a lot of patience.”

“Yeah,” he says. “I know you’re right.”

“Oh,” she sighs, leaning back against the island again. “I so love hearing those words.”

Oliver laughs quietly over the phone and she counts it as a win.

\---

“What are you up to tonight?” Oliver asks after she answers the phone.

“Watching a movie,” she tells him, turning the volume down on the tv some and pressing further down into the couch. “ _ Charade _ is on TMC.”

“ _ Charade _ ?” Oliver prompts and she can just imagine the adorably confused pinch in his brow.

“Please don’t tell me you’ve never seen this movie,” she says, sitting up a little in offense. “You love old movies!”

“What’s it about?” He asks and she can hear the smile in his voice. “I’ll turn it on.”

“Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant try to figure out who killed her husband,” she explains, turning the volume back up just a touch. “Turn it on, we’ll watch it together.”

He must, because all she hears for a few minutes is some shuffling. She hasn’t actually seen his new apartment, but she imagines him settling into a couch the same way he had in the loft. Gray sweats and barefeet, kicked up and resting on the coffee table.

“Okay,” he says finally, pulling her from the dangerous thoughts. “I’ve got it on. Catch me up.”

Felicity smiles, tugging her green knitted blanket around herself, and explains the first part of the movie to him while Audrey Hepburn gets separately threatened by each of her husband’s old friends.

\---

Felicity answers the phone quickly as it starts to ring, heading away from the door to her bedroom, trying to temper the sound of her ringer. She should have turned it off, knowing Oliver would probably call, but had forgotten.

“Hey,” she greets, pressing her back up against the wall next to the top of the staircase.

“You sound tired,” he comments and she can hear him frowning, She’d prefer if he didn’t worry about her, but she knows him well enough to know that’s a fruitless want. “Is everything alright?”

“It’s just been a long day,” she admits, sliding down the wall to sit at the top of the stairs. She pulls her knees up to her chest and takes an odd comfort in the phone cradled against her ear, his soft voice coming through.

“Where’s your mom?” He asks. She sighs, glancing back in the direction she’d come from.

“Taking what I can only hope is a very long, calming bath,” she explains. “I nearly got blown to high heaven and she’s got PTSD.”

Her mother had blown into town and cried as soon as Felicity had answered the door. A bit of an overreaction considering the island wasn’t even her closest brush with death in the past few years. She gets it, though, and it had actually been nice to have her mom show up. It’s just that she’d managed to bury a lot of the fear she’d felt on the island, but having her mom stroke her hair and tearily ask her if she’s okay had been her breaking point.

“Seriously,” Oliver says and she closes her eyes in anticipation of his next question. “How are you doing?”

She wants to be funny, deflect and move away from the subject. She’s not ready to rehash everything, but her conversations with her mom have left her raw and tired, and Oliver’s asking because he wants to know. Still, the words don’t seem to be coming.

“I’m worried about John,” she says instead, but Oliver hums on the other end which makes her think he agrees. “He seems off but he isn’t talking to me about it.”

“We’ve all been through a lot recently,” he sighs. “Give him some time. I’ll try talking to him.”

She nods to herself, resting her head back against the wall. She doesn’t want to think about islands or bombs anymore tonight. Her mother is gonna be in the bathtub for a while, but that’s still only a finite amount of time to get herself together.

“Tell me about your day,” she instructs instead, letting her eyes drift shut. “How’s Rene doing in the new job?”

“Almost alarmingly well,” Oliver chuckles. “The kid is a chameleon.”

Felicity smiles to herself, letting the sound of his voice drift over her, warm her. A feeling of safety settles around her, a reminder that even if things are a little broken right now, they’re working on it. She lets herself believe it can all be fixed.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are fun! This is short! What else do you guys think they spent the summer talking about?


End file.
